This is a bit of free form, not super-structured post. But it is my attempt to organize my thoughts around an extremely important topic.
Namely, the reality that America is (and has been) on a dark path. Yes, the parallels to Germany in the 1930's are strikingly obvious to people like me. But, to the pro-Trump crowd, apparently not. So I will lay out what I am seeing.
Scapegoating
When I was in Junior High Social Studies class, we studied WWII. One of the things we learned about was how Hitler came to power and why he benefited from attacking the Jewish people. This is where I learned the term "scapegoat". Using a group of people (or person) to cast blame on and rally people around the common enemy. From that perspective, it didn't matter if the Jews were actually bad; what mattered is whether in benefited Hitler to scapegoat them. And, for that matter, it didn't have to be Jews. It just needed to be a convenient group that "everyone" could agree to hate. Jews fit the bill (at the time, I did not understand nor did I know that LGBTQ people were also on Hitler's list of villains).
Nothing I have learned since has changed this basic understanding. And this is why it is so obvious to me what Trump (and the GOP more broadly) are doing when they talk about immigrants, LGBTQ people, and Muslims, etc. The tell-tales are clear:
- Blame them for the bad things that are happening in the world
- Libel them by generalizing bad acts of some members of the group to the entire group. Lying is fine.
- Promise that doing something about "them" will make things better
- Dehumanize: "They" are poisoning the blood of our country". Using the world "illegal" as a noun.
- Stoke fear. "They" are dangerous
- Stoke anger: "They" destroying our way of life. Our culture is at risk.
- Stoke envy: "They" are getting things they don't deserve - at our expense
- Stoke otherness: "They" are not like "us". They are culturally incompatible.
Libel
Specifically, one tactic that outrages me is the Libel tactic. This is used not only by Trump, but by the GOP in general and certainly Fox News and other right wing media. This is not really hard to see (if you look). The GOP narrative is this:
- America is being hit by a violent crime wave
- The crime wave is driven by illegal immigrants
- For evidence, see these violent crimes committed by an illegal immigrant.
The first two are lies. The last is a false implication.
America is not being hit by a violent crime wave. Violent crime went up during COVID. This is true. But violent crime rates are now rapidly decreasing - just as one would expect given the post-COVID recovery.
Here are two plots (from the FBI Crime data explorer (CDE)):
You can see there is a spike in homicide that corresponds with COVID (note who was POTUS in 2020). The website only had these plots easily obtained through 2022. But, a quick check at recent updates will show that violent crimes have been dropping significantly since 2022. In short, violent crime has been dropping steadily and dramatically since the early 1990's. That trend reversed under COVID, but now appears to be reverting back downwards.
So, there was a crime wave. And it was clearly related to COVID.
Illegal Immigrants are fueling US Crime.
Another lie. See for example, this study. It shows that in Texas, illegal immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than natural born US Citizens.
Or this study, which shows that urban crime rates do not increase with immigration.
But who needs facts when there is a good narrative to be had?
Using instances of violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants to implicate all undocumented immigrants is just bigotry.
Maybe you are thinking: "But what about those terrible crimes I saw in the news committed by an 'illegal'? Fox News has them all the time. Don't we need to do something about the 'illegals'? Don't you care about their victims?"
Of course I do, but I see them as victims, not political fodder. Most heinous crimes in the US are not committed by "illegals". They are committed by native born Americans. But when those crimes are committed, it's not framed as "Americans are dangerous". Anytime you have a group of a million plus people, someone in that group (probably many someones) will do some terrible things. Imagine the following argument:
Something needs to be done about military veterans. Every day it seems, someone is raped or murdered by one. These stories are shocking. Why do politicians let these dangerous people walk among us?
Your reaction of course may be something along the lines of, "You asshole, why do you hate our brave patriots who served America?" If you can see the bigotry of this kind of argument when used against a group you favor, perhaps, with a little effort, you see it when used against a group you despise.
The 9th commandment
"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor". I suppose we can debate what this means exactly (and scholars do). But I am naive enough to believe that it implies that telling lies about your neighbor in a fashion that harms them is included in the scope. But given my points above, isn't this just what libeling immigrants amounts to? Bearing false witness against thy neighbor? If the GOP is the "Christian" party that God Himself wants to have power, why does the 9th commandment not matter?
Concentration Camps
Oh, did I mention the plan to use the military to round up and deport millions of undocumented immigrants? It's not like the US can just dump them into Mexico or somewhere else - so the end result is going to be internment camps. And if you don't think he hopes to send the military into cities to override the local police and round people up, you are not paying attention. And if there are large protests of Trump what is doing, and he invokes the insurrection act to use the military to mass arrest protestors, where do you think they are going to be sent?
Hyperbolic?
Am I being hyperbolic? Perhaps, but the analogies to Germany in the 1930's are clear. And it would be foolish for us to assume that "it can't happen here".
